Are you an idiot?

Because I sure have been/am. I mean I may have been the first glow forger to make a backwards stamp in the week after getting my PRU (at least I am a precocious idiot?) and several more times, so my current project is replacing the letters in the indoor ring at the barn where I ride (the markers that tell dressage riders where specific moves are supposed to occur in the ring during a dressage “test”. Our current markers are enameled steel signs mounted on 3/4" plywood and we wanted bigger fancier letters (because our chief instructor saw them at another barn). My original plan was to mill them on my x-carve out of 2" pine (to end up being 1.5" thick) which would look really cool, using the “prism” toolpath strategy (the letters have a 45 degree chamfer on the centerline of the letter and square sides - you see such letters at stores to use as house numbers). It uses a 90-degree “v-bit” end-mill to successively mill the chamfers. Each letter (being about 12" high) was going to take around 4 hours to mill. So I figured a test cut out of draftboard for sizing/color would be a quick test. As it turns out we actually preferred the laser cut MDF letters as they don’t stick out (since the horse often graze the wall you can catch a knee on them). And if they did catch it’s MDF and would likely give way. So I tested the “C” which is the far side/center letter and painted it black after removing the masking (don’t worry we now approach the idiot part), and of course you know what you can’t tell on Draftboard? What is the front/back. So I of course painted the back and couldn’t figure out why the C seemed backwards (sigh). Anyway I realized I could score an up arrow into the face (and since it’s getting painted black nobody would ever see).


we decided the letters need to be much larger (so the next round is bigger).


Since I was out of Draftboard, I just used regular 1/8" MDF but here you see the arrow (yes I realize for regular MDF the back isn’t smooth but the principal is there)

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The original idiotic move was with @joe in this post:

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Since it isn’t often I can follow your medical projects, it was nice that I actually knew what you were talking about here. Had an OTTB that I rode dressage in college. Plan to start back in a couple of months when it cools off.

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I firmly place myself in the “D’oh” camp too! It must be an initiation rite to engrave a stamp the wrong way, and then it just goes down hill from there :wink::joy_cat::joy_cat: From buying wood that I can’t laser through, to accidently cutting a product that contains PVC (3M cork shelf liner, I’m looking at you!). Then there was the time that I swear my GF got quieter all of a sudden, but it absolutely couldn’t be that I turned the inside fan off, thinking the toggle worked the other way :sweat_smile:

Nice that people can still understand that it is a “C” regardless if it backwards or not!

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The wording on the fan toggle is strange and confusing. Why couldn’t it just say:
INTERNAL FAN – On/Off

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Because why would you ever turn the fan off if you didn’t have an external filter?
Remember that every one of us who has installed an external fan has gone off-book to do so. The instructions are based on those who are following the rules.

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I remember this one. It gave me permission to be an idiot on occasion too.

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I am way more idiotic!

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Guy wanted a custom branding iron to have it mark his custom leather furniture. “Yeah, I can do that.”
I faithfully reproduced the custom brand in half-inch steel, I wanted to test it. I threw down a scrap of the hide, heated the brand and it shriveled up around the iron like a sphincter. Then… “It’s backward.”
Cut, flip, weld, and grind. No one besides you all ever knew it happened.
Had to use a spray tack to keep the leather flat. ( :roll_eyes: Yeah, I can do that)

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Oh god, in steel no less. At least for me it was 2 minutes worth of laser cut MDF.

Clearly the solution to your problem was to get the guy to flip their corporate logo… :smile:

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Just take it off the wall, flip it over and spray paint the other side. No one will ever know! I think I need to be President of the Idiot’s Club. I can’t tell you how many times I resize part of a design and forget to resize the critical pieces - like the backing for a design for the front pieces to attach to. And yes, the flipping wrong direction too. :sweat_smile:

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So. Many. Mirror image mistakes.

Aren’t a Glowforge owner if you haven’t earned that merit badge.

These look great though!

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Post painting (just giving a chance for them to air out). Using Behr Satin Black premium spray paint. For scale those are 12" tiles

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Like preaching to the choir.
I have a Phd in Bad Choices with a Masters in Lame Ass Excuses.

but even your mistakes rock

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Q: Why would I want to turn the fan off if I didn’t’ have an external filter?
A: Because you will want to turn the fan off if you want to use an external fan.
I didn’t know that was “against the rules”.

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Not so much against the rules as “beyond the manual” :stuck_out_tongue:

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:+1:

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If you zoom on the photo you can see the arrows. They’re mounted with VHB tape.

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